American attitudes about regulating executive compensation are very clear: If taxpayers help a company stay in business, the government should regulate executive pay and bonuses. But if no taxpayer money is involved, the government should keep its hands off.
Eighty-one percent (81%) of U.S. voters say Congress does not have the right to raise taxes on all Americans retroactively, even as the legislators are considering such legislation to punish those who got bonuses from American International Group (AIG).
Three-out—of-four Americans (75%) personally know someone who has been laid off from their job in the current economic crisis. That figure includes 40% who know at least four people who have been laid off.
Forty-five percent (45%) of American adults say it’s time to stop all bailout funding for the financial industry. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 34% disagree while 21% are not sure.
Fifty-seven percent (57%) of U.S. voters favor imposing a 90% tax on bonuses paid by American International Group (AIG) and other firms that receive government bailout money, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Fifty-nine percent (59%) of American adults say it’s better for the economy to let American International Group (AIG) go out of business rather than providing federal subsidies to keep the insurance giant afloat.
Sixty-eight percent (68%) of Americans now say most of the taxpayer money given out as bailouts is going to the very people
who created the country’s current economic crisis.
Fifty percent (50%) of U.S. voters now say they are more worried that the government will do too much in reacting to the nation’s economic problems rather than not enough.
Forty-seven percent (47%) of Americans have at least a somewhat favorable opinion of labor unions. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that nearly as many--44%--view unions at least somewhat unfavorably.
Sixty-one percent (61%) of Americans say it is fair to require a vote by secret ballot if workers want to form a union. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 18% say it is not fair to require a secret ballot.
The recession has forced nearly two in five (39 percent) Americans to save less for their golden years, but it hasn't changed their perception about whether middle income families can save for retirement.
Union members tend to believe that most workers want to join a labor union. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 47% of union members hold that view while only 18% disagree.
Consumer and investor confidence increased dramatically over the past week after falling to record lows. On Sunday morning, March 15, the Rasmussen Consumer Index rose to the highest level since November 5, the morning after Barack Obama was elected president.
Just 27% of voters nationwide favor passage of a second economic stimulus package. The latest Rasmussen Reports nationwide telephone survey found that 55% are opposed and 19% are not sure.
Bernard Madoff, the Wall Street financier who ran a $64.8 billion Ponzi scheme, is expected to plead guilty to 11 criminal counts on Thursday, but he hopes his wife Ruth will be able to keep at least $70 million to live on while he’s in jail.
Most Americans remain confident that the U.S. economy will be stronger in five years than it is today, but most also expect very little to change in the next 12 months.
Most Americans (53%) now think the United States is at least somewhat likely to enter a 1930’s-like depression within the next few years.
Only 12% of Americans say they would prefer to buy a car from an automaker who received a federal bailout.
Confidence about the availability of jobs has dropped over the past two months.
Nearly one-out-of-five Americans (19%) say their primary bank has received federal bailout money, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
